The Communication Security Establishments’s “Cyber Threats to Canada’s Democratic Process” has been an important and influential series of reports providing the public with an invaluable snapshot of challenges facing our elections in the digital age. But for an agency with a predominately outward view toward foreign intelligence, the reports also noteworthy for the threats they do not describe. For a country that is quickly becoming a world leader in the use of election technology, we must also take an inward-facing view to acknowledge the degree of privileged access to highly sensitive democratic data this technology provides. Drawing on recent national and international events and observations, this talk will explore some of the other threats to Canada’s democratic process.
About the speaker
Aleksander Essex is an associate professor of software engineering at Western University. His research specializes in cybersecurity, cryptography and has focused on electronic and online voting to develop technical methods for evidence-based elections. He has presented his research findings at the federal, provincial, territorial and municipal levels and has made over eighty television, radio and print appearances speaking on the topic of election security. He is a member of the Election Verification Network, a U.S. based professional society of election experts and is a licensed professional engineer (P.Eng.) in Ontario.
Watch Aleksander’s presentation
